Scottish Executive

Caledonian MacBrayne

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the financial settlement for Caledonian MacBrayne will be in 2001-02, broken down into capital and revenue support.

Sarah Boyack: We propose to make available to CalMac in 2001-02 revenue deficit grant of £21.4 million and capital grant of £0.4 million. The proposed level of capital grant makes no provision for the purchase of new vessels, since European regulations no longer permit the payment of grant for this purpose. The proposals for tendering CalMac’s services, which I announced on 23 January, reflect these rules. They would also allow services and fares to be protected and provide mechanisms to secure investment in new vessels. The budget figures will be kept under review as the tendering process develops.

Credit Unions

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12849 by Jackie Baillie on 9 February 2001, what resources will be allocated to support its development strategy with credit unions.

Jackie Baillie: The Executive will provide £1.5 million over three years to implement the credit union action plan for Scotland. Additional resources will also   be available to fund volunteering initiatives and improvement of IT systems.

Debt

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12497 by Jackie Baillie on 30 January 2001, what stage discussions have reached with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on how the money and debt advice services provided by local authorities can be improved.

Jackie Baillie: Discussions are linked to the Executive’s work on the proposed telephone debtline. COSLA is represented on the debtline project team and discussions will continue as the pilot project develops.

Debt

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what models of delivery it is considering for the provision of debt advice.

Jackie Baillie: The Executive’s pilot debtline in Fife will test out the provision of debt advice over the telephone. The debtline will be additional to, and complement, debt advice that is currently delivered face to face.

Debt

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken and what success it has had in putting the issue of debt onto the agenda of the Joint Ministerial Committees on Poverty.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Memorandum of Understanding and supplementary agreements between the United Kingdom Government, Scottish ministers and the Cabinet of the National Assembly for Wales, which was laid before the Scottish Parliament in October 1999 (SE/99/36), indicates that the proceedings of the Joint Ministerial Committee and its sub-committees will be regarded as confidential, to permit free and candid discussion.

Elections

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that those staff involved in developing online aspects of e-government initiatives are sufficiently well informed of any security issues which may be associated with such developments, in particular as regards online voting.

Peter Peacock: Electoral pilot schemes are scheduled to take place at the local government elections being held in England and Wales in May. Decisions on the introduction of similar pilot schemes, including online voting, for local government elections in Scotland will be considered once an analysis of the results of the pilots in England and Wales has been produced. Any future consideration of online voting will take account of security matters.

Enterprise

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to make available through the enterprise or training programmes provision to teach unemployed people how to drive and advise them on acquisition of motor vehicles.

Ms Wendy Alexander: From April, Training for Work will offer a wide range of recognised qualifications designed to assist unemployed people secure work. The Enterprise Networks will administer a list of approved qualifications that can be funded from the programme.

  Certain types of occupational driving licences, for example dump and forklift truck licences, PSV and LGV, are included in the approved list. Funding to obtain standard motor vehicle licences will only be considered exceptionally, and in remote parts of the Highlands and Islands, where potential trainees are excluded from opportunities due to lack of access. The Enterprise Networks plan to review the approved qualifications list in October.

  Advice on the acquisition of motor vehicles can be obtained from the Office of Fair Trading.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of the surveys being undertaken by the Federation of Small Businesses and the area tourist board in Dumfries and Galloway on the economic effects of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the region and whether it will receive copies of the results of the surveys.

Ross Finnie: I am fully aware of the work being done in the Dumfries and Galloway area. The Federation of Small Businesses survey is contributing to a wider partnership of local organisations, led by Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway, looking at the impact the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak is having on the area. On 15 March I chaired the first meeting of the Impact Assessment Group and heard a report of the Dumfries and Galloway work and I look forward to seeing future updates.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of the proposals put forward by the Federation of Small Businesses regarding actions which might be taken by financial institutions and central and local government to help businesses in Dumfries and Galloway affected by the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and whether it intends to take any action as a consequence of these proposals.

Ross Finnie: I am aware of the work that the Federation of Small Businesses is doing in the Dumfries and Galloway area. It is feeding into the impact assessment currently being co-ordinated by Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway which is itself feeding into the Scottish Impact Assessment Group, which I am chairing. I look forward to early results from this group so we can consider the most effective way of helping rural areas through these current real difficulties.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to make any statutory instruments which will allow the transport of uninfected animals to slaughterhouses in areas in which foot-and-mouth disease has been identified.

Ross Finnie: A statutory instrument, The Foot and Mouth Declaratory (Controlled Area) (Scotland) (No 2) Order 2001, was introduced on Friday 2 March 2001. This provides the legislative framework for a licensing scheme for movement of livestock from farm direct to slaughterhouse.

  The only restriction on the location of the slaughterhouse is that it should not be within 3 km of an infected premise.

  Movement is strictly controlled under these arrangements and poses minimal disease risk with vehicles which deliver the animals being thoroughly cleansed and disinfected before they leave the abattoir. Furthermore, the animals slaughtered will be subjected to the routine ante-mortem inspection before meat is passed fit for human consumption.

Freedom of Information Bill

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to publish guidelines on the scope of local authority discretion in relation to the charging of fees for the provision of information if its draft Freedom Of Information Bill becomes law.

Mr Jim Wallace: Section 9 of the draft Bill published on 1 March sets out the scope of public authority discretion in relation to the charging of fees for providing information. The upper limits of fees would be prescribed and all authorities would have discretion whether or not to charge a fee. Section 22 of the draft Bill requires that Scottish public authorities set out in a publication scheme any fees to be charged in relation to information made available routinely.

Housing

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made in conjunction with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and any other organisations in widening the availability of low cost insurance with rent schemes.

Jackie Baillie: The extent of current provision by local authorities and the housing association movement has been established. We now intend to bring deliverers and providers together to discuss the best way to widen the availability of low cost insurance with rent schemes.

Information Technology

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to educate its staff in information and communication technologies.

Angus MacKay: It is a priority of the Executive to ensure that staff have access to the latest technology and are able to use it effectively to provide an efficient, high quality service to ministers, Parliament and the public. Through the internal Training and Development course programme staff are offered a wide range of learning opportunities designed to raise awareness and improve staff skills and knowledge in information and communication technologies.

Information Technology

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to offer incentives to local authorities to encourage them to use information and communication technologies.

Peter Peacock: The Executive is providing £26 million through the Modernising Government Fund to support innovative projects which use information and communication technologies. Local authorities will lead 22 of these projects with funding of £17.5 million.

  As well as supporting key technologies such as telecommunications infrastructure, call centres, electronic service delivery and smart cards, the projects will also deliver strategic, transferable benefits to the whole of the public sector.

Land Reform (Scotland) Bill

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how community land buy-out schemes will be able to address the estimated annual average financial loss of over £70,000 in respect of the management of each estate in the Upper Findhorn Valley, Inverness-shire, as outlined in the Rural Economic Survey , published by the Scottish Gamekeepers Association.

Mr Jim Wallace: It would be for any individual community body to consider the viability of any land purchase. Community bodies applying for community right to buy under the draft Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will be required to present to ministers, at the right to buy stage, detailed plans for the land which they wish to purchase under this legislation.

  The proposed legislation provides for ministers to decide whether an application to exercise a right to buy can proceed. In making their decision, ministers must consider whether the right to buy would be in the public interest and compatible with sustainable development. A community body seeking to exercise a right to buy must therefore address these issues in its plans.

Legislation

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11646 by Mr Jim Wallace on 12 January 2001, whether, in the course of concluding that it supports the view that it is not necessary to introduce legislation either to reform or restate the existing law on boundary walls, any consideration was given to the extent to which any differences between the views on this issue expressed in the Scottish Law Commission’s 1998 report and the Commission’s 1992 consultation paper may be attributable to changes in the membership of the Commission.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Executive considers recommendations made to it by the Scottish Law Commission, as with recommendations that it receives from other bodies, on their merits.

Social Justice

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-880 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 24 August 1999, which organisations it has been working with to improve access to financial services for people on low incomes.

Jackie Baillie: To improve access to financial services for people on low incomes the Executive has been working with a wide range of interested parties as described below:

  Wester Hailes Representative Council

  Royal Bank of Scotland

  Bank of Scotland

  Clydesdale Bank

  Lloyds TSB Scotland

  Barataria Foundation

  Association of British Credit Unions Ltd

  Scottish League of Credit Unions

  Community Enterprise in Strathclyde

  Credit Union Enterprise Services

  Argyll and Bute Credit Union Development Agency

  Committee of Scottish Clearing Banks

  COSLA

  Scottish Homes

  Scottish Enterprise

  Money Advice Scotland

  Citizens Advice Scotland

  Consumer Credit Counselling Services

  Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations

  Scottish Financial Enterprise

  Social Enterprise Institute

  Scottish Retail Consortium

  Money Advice Trust

  Federation of Information and Advice Centres

  Norwich Union

  Trading Standards Highland Council

  Edinburgh City Council

  Borders Council

  Fife Council

  Renfrewshire Council.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why it had no representative at the recent UK forum to discuss the current situation in the tourism industry.

Mr Alasdair Morrison: This meeting was almost exclusively about English issues not related to the effect on tourism of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. I took the view that it would be more useful to speak separately to Janet Anderson, the minister responsible for tourism at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. I have done so and we have agreed to keep in touch on a regular basis.